When Kara lashed out with an elbow, spinning, Manannan backed up with his hands raised. "Sorry, Valkyrie, but you were about to end up on your ass. I found the key." He gestured to the open front door behind him.

Mist kissed him, a quick peck on the lips as she sauntered by, sending an amused glance at her best friend. Blood still pumping hard, Kara gave him a quick nod. The damned elf was lucky it had been her elbow and not her sword or knife she'd lashed out with.

"Anna isn't here yet," Manannan added as Kara passed him and entered the home. He hadn't turned on any lights, but a digital clock on a side table projected a small glow into the foyer and living room. A well-loved lazy boy chair, low wood coffee table and matching leather couch greeted them. A circular area rug covered the hardwood floor but the pattern was indistinguishable in the low light.

Despite the amount of time Mist had said Anna was gone, Kara couldn't detect that usual empty, unlived scent in the air. Instead, the home smelled... well... of the faintest hint of lemon. There was no taste of dust. Did Anna have a caretaker cleaning the home regularly?

The stairs creaked as Mist explored the next level, Manannan following her. This house definitely had some character. Kara entered the kitchen, finding it as tidy as the living room. Mail was stacked neatly on the table. The light from the stove clock reflected off the black surface and the refrigerator hummed. An open doorway led to a laundry room and mudroom with the door to the back porch.

A faint crackle of sound had Kara spinning, blade in hand.

In the wide space at the bottom of the stairs between the kitchen and living room, a red-rimmed portal hung a few centimetres off the wood floor and rose to almost touch the ceiling. A silvery shimmer opaqued the event horizon, like the ripples in water, but cast a bright light into the space.

The face she's seen in Mist's wrist communicator poked out of the shimmer, then after a searching glance and acknowledging nod when he met Kara's gaze, he stepped through, drawing a small, dark-haired woman with him. She clung to his side until eyes wide, she spotted Kara.

A thrill shot through Kara and she slid her sword back into its sheath. She recognized those eyes, the same golden amber of her twin, of her own. There was no doubt this was Anna, her cousin. Surprising herself, she stepped forward and enfolded the smaller woman in her arms.

"I'm so excited to meet you, Kara," came the muffled voice from her shoulder as Anna hugged her back, just as tightly. An upwelling of protectiveness surged and Kara knew her new cousin had already taken residence in her heart. And within her, Anna carried another cousin... well, a niece or nephew if Kara had her way. Yeah, her family had just gotten that much more complicated, but she'd dealt with Aine being on the opposite side of a war so how hard could it be having a niece or nephew that was a dragon?

Kara's gaze rose over Anna's head to meet Pazuzu's intense eyes, the demonic dragon prince she'd heard so much about both through rumour and from Mist. In person, he was far more intimidating and larger than he had been in the holographic communicator. Power and danger bled from him in a cold draft that raised the hairs on the back of her neck. With smoky black seidhr swirling around the double set of wings that brushed the ceiling and floor, he commanded the surrounding air in a way that left the slightest tang of ozone and a tangible weighty pressure not even Prince Thor or Princess Shannon created with their powers, like he could slice a person to ribbons with a blade of compressed air or rip the oxygen out of one's lungs.

With gooseflesh rising on her arms, Kara acknowledged the undeniable truth—Pazuzu's title as Prince of the Aerial Kingdoms was not simply an inherited one. He really was the Dark Angel of the Four Winds that the ancient records on Asgard listed him as. Towering over her by at least another foot, muscular but not bulky body encased in obsidian dragonscale with six-inch ebony claws on one hand, Pazuzu had obviously been prepared for a dangerous arrival. No doubt he'd have slaughtered Kara if she'd looked wrong at Anna.

And that was without even taking his dragon form. If Asgard's records were accurate, he'd not only crush this house, but take out the neighbouring home too if he shifted. Nabu had been threatening, and she'd felt an unfamiliar frisson of fear in his presence, knowing he was a much larger predator than they were seeing, but Pazuzu had her every battle sense jangling in warning.

His hand flexed and the claws disappeared, a small smile appearing as his dark, penetrating eyes gleamed, as if he could see right into her thoughts. And damn, just that quick she totally understood why her best friend had fallen for the lethally sexy devil. Not her type, but yeah, when he wanted to, he exuded sex with a magnetic dangerous draw—that desire to reach for a flame, knowing it would burn—she'd only encountered before with Prince Loki.

Anna leaned back, reaching up to cup Kara's face and breaking her gaze from Pazuzu's. "I never thought to have family again after losing my parents."

Kara smiled, her heart softening even further, and brushed Anna's silken locks back from her face. "Your eyes are the very image of my mother's, of mine and my twin's. I knew at one glance that you were family." Tears welled in Anna's eyes and Kara kissed her on her forehead. "Don't worry, Anna. I won't let any harm come to you or your child."

A shudder shook her little cousin. "Thank you," Anna whispered. She released Kara after half a minute and peered around. "It feels so odd to be home, to have it all completely the same as if I never left. Nabu has been taking good care of it, as he promised."

"Do you really think he'd dare do anything else for my mate?" Pazuzu teased, raising a dark eyebrow. "And don't give him too much credit, little one. He assigned it to Fagan, one of his wolf lieutenants that has a mate and pups here in the Seattle area."

Kara blinked. He was revealing rather a lot when the demons were notoriously closed-mouthed about their earthly dealings. Why? Was it her link to Anna? Or his experience with Mist?

Regardless of the reason, his comments reaffirmed her assessment. Nabu might be powerful and dangerous, but Pazuzu was a Power, one that even Loki with his realm-destroying chaos seidhr might not be able to take on in single combat and survive, let alone defeat. For the first time in her existence, she questioned whether Asgard truly was the most powerful realm. Yet if the histories were correct, they'd fought the demons to a stand-still, neither race able to defeat the other.

Blue tresses flying, Mist launched herself off the stairs and with a deep laugh, Pazuzu caught her. "And how is my favourite little kitten?" his voice rumbled, his smile wide and eyes alight with humour.

Kara gaped. Kitten? Mist might not have Kara's age, but she was fierce in battle.

Anna giggled, running to join the hug that very quickly deepened into a kiss first between Mist and Pazuzu, then between Mist and Anna, with Pazuzu murmuring to both of them.

Manannan came to stand beside Kara, releasing a deep sigh as he watched the reunion. "I know she loves me, but she'd never not care about them. She has such a big heart."

"Yes, yes she does and don't take this the wrong way, but I'm impressed you've recognized that about her," Kara said. She'd had her doubt about whether or not Manannan could hold the interest of her friend, whether he'd appreciate her generous nature for the long term, but those few words of wisdom settled her concerns.

And damned, but Pazuzu looked actually approachable with the two woman wrapped around him, smiling down at them. Perhaps that was the answer to Kara's question. He considered them family now and if his behaviour was anything to judge by, once you were family, he'd fight tooth and claw to protect you. By accepting Anna as she had, Pazuzu seemed to have included her in his family.

She almost snorted, amusement bubbling.

The sharp crack of glass shattering and a familiar whoosh had Kara lunging and deflecting with her vambrace before conscious thought kicked it. An arrow thunked into a kitchen cabinet, shattering the thin wood, and sword in hand, Kara took off for the laundry room and out onto the back porch.

Another flutter of sound had Kara lashing out, cutting the arrow in two. An elven arrow, based on the fletching. Turning, Kara caught a third flying toward her and leapt off the porch, racing in the direction of the archer.

A hint of movement was the only clue when a silver sai slashed in her direction from a shadow. Deflecting the strike with her sword, Kara lunged with a long knife.

The warrior, a woman with black and silver tattoos covering her midnight skin, swung a second sai, meeting Kara's knife in a clang of metal. Narrowed grey eyes and mouth stretched in a snarl, the elf thrust her sai at Kara's abdomen.

Who was she? Kara had thought she'd known all the best sidhe warriors and this woman was good, forcing Kara to fight her, rather than quickly disarming her.

"Demon scum," the elf snarled as Kara deflected another strike.

"I'm an Asgardian Valkyrie. Why are you attacking me? Are you Unseelie? Princess Shannon of Asgard is Maeve's daughter. Queen Aine is my cousin," Kara said, trying to reason with the furious warrior.

Those silvery grey eyes blinked and the woman stepped back, a line creasing her brow. "You lie."

Kara twisted her vambrace, showing the Asgardian symbols that proclaimed her status and carried embedded protective spells she hadn't yet activated.

The elf flicked her gaze over it, frown deepening.

Out of the corner of her eye, Kara caught Mist's approach. The elf's eyes widened and she stepped back.

"Scota? Why are you—" Mist started.

But the elf had stepped into the tree's shadow and disappeared.